My Autism Insights

I was tagged by Trish of Another Piece of the Puzzle for this photo meme and decided to play along.  As a rule, I don’t post pics of myself or my kids, but I’m making an exception here - and cheating a little.  Also, my digital pics are not incredibly organized (like everything else) so this is my closest approximation of the 6th.

About the picture: A few years ago, we took a camping trip to a wolf preserve.  Here, Gus is having a chat with one of the wolves.  What we discovered was that although he had trouble communicating with us, he was in beautiful sync with these amazing creatures.  Gus was fond of hiking to the back of the wolves’ compound and getting them to all start howling.  If you’ve never heard a pack of wolves howling together, let me tell you, it is a sound that will send chills of awe through you.  And my son was able to get them to sing.  Incredible.  I get chills just recalling it.

One of the things we discovered at the preserve was that wolves are greatly misunderstood creatures.  They’re quite gentle and have their own special structure within their societies.  They are not violent or intentionally harmful, they just need to get their needs met, whether it be eating or self-defense.  No wonder Gus was able to get them to join his song - they were truly kindred spirits.

Thanks Trish, for the reminder of an amazing trip.

Edit:  Forgot to tag someone!  Okay, so I’ll tag (if you should choose to accept): Maddy, Marla,  Hauteness, Angela, and Regina.

image from Jannaverse

This week’s Manic Monday meme from It’s a Blog Eat Blog World is about Iron.

We just got back from a camping trip with the kids, sister-in-law and brother-in-law. The grandparents came up during the day, but didn’t stay over night. SIL and BIL are in training for a half iron-man race next month. From the amount of physical exertion that went into this weekend, I feel like I’ve actually run that race. I’m exhausted! There were hikes - several - up and down hills, wood-hunting, wood-cutting, constructing and deconstructing tents, grilling, eating (loads of eating)…This is what we do for relaxation!

Gus and his sister had a magnificent time. I’m very pleased with the way he worked at staying within the boundaries of our campsite. When he started getting tired he had less self-control, but otherwise, he did really well staying with us. He and MM were both great helpers in between running circles around the grownups. I wonder how they’d fare at the half iron-man?

What did you do for this Labor Day weekend?

Because I’m multitasking at the moment (and just realized I put my pj’s on inside-out) I’ll have to be quick today.

1. I am thankful for Claritin-D 24 hour allergy medication. It’s that time of year when the change of seasons is bringing eczema, sneezing, and sleep disturbances for Gus. Claritin makes a big difference and is much less expensive than Zyrtec.

2. I am thankful for bedtime. Did I mention I just put my pj’s on inside-out? Some days are like that and I am just happy when they end.

3. I am thankful for long weekends and camping. It gets the kids away from electronics for a few days, we spend some fun family time together and sleeping in a tent (on an air mattress and as long as it’s not raining) is just awesome!

I may be scarce this weekend because of said camping. So if I’m not around, have a great weekend & Labor Day, and please share your thankfulness in a comment!

Let’s dive right in with the gratitude!  Woo!

1. I am very thankful that we have such wonderful neighbors around us.  I am constantly struck by how accepting they all are of Gus.  The kids play with him when he’s feeling social, but don’t chastise him when he’s not.  The parents never give ‘the looks’ and are always kind, even affectionate to both my kids.  If they think any or all of us are weird when they’re in private, they never show that, and that’s much appreciated.  There are some really good people in our community and I’m glad we moved here.

2. I’m thankful that Gus has learned to come into our room when he wakes up without turning the bright lights on in our faces.  He’s comfortable with curling up on the futon and either going back to sleep or just chilling out until we wake up. 

3. I am thankful that Gus is almost done with summer school.  It will be nice to have both kids home so we can have some real fun.  Daddy will take some time off work and there will be at least one, probably two, camping trips in the near future and a trip to a water park - late day, mid-week when it’s the least crowded.  Gus and his sister will have a ball.  I’ll probably have many gray hairs by the end of the day, but it’s not about me, is it? 

What are you thankful for today? 

Now that Keith Kennedy has been found after he went missing for a week (I learned of this over at AutismVox), I feel a little better about our annual camping trip.  We’re going to a familiar place, which has it’s pros and cons of course.  The good part is that Gus is very comfortable there and won’t necessarily feel the need to see and do everything at once.  The down side is that Gus is very comfortable there and sometimes gets the idea that he can go where he wants, when he wants, without letting anyone but the chipmunks under the cabin know about it.

We take the precaution of having an ID bracelet, but if we can’t find him, that doesn’t help us much.  I considered getting one of those kiddie lojacks, but haven’t found one that will work for us yet. 

When Gus was about three, we went on one of our usual camping trips and I tried the Mommy I’m Here Locator.  If he was getting too far, I would press a button, it would beep and he would come back.  It worked for a short while, but it increasingly started to annoy him to the point where he would do a sort of jig before returning to me.  Toward the end of the weekend, he went out into the middle of a field of grass taller than he was (how he escaped a single tick is still a mystery), took the little teddy bear off his show and left it in the middle of the field.  Teddy was never seen again.  So much for that. 

There was anotehr one called Angel Alert or some such thing, but it never worked at all.  In other words, I could barely turn it on.

I thought about the Ion Kids locator, but I’m very skeptical.  So in the meantime, we just make sure that Gus is never left unattended, and someone shadows him at all times.

If anyone knows of a better locator device or an affordable GPS (the Wherifone may be an option when he’s a little older), I’d love to hear about it.  Now that I’m not working weekends anymore, I see a bunch of camping trips in our near future!